Why much more is expected of Kennedy Burke in her second year with the Liberty

The team had just broken the WNBA’s all-time record for 3-pointers made in a game with 19, a feat the team was close to breaking many times in the last couple of seasons, but struggled to get over the hump. 

The record-breaking trey came off the hands of Burke with 1:37 left in the fourth quarter. It was garbage time with Liberty leading 93-69. Reserve guard Jaylyn Sherrod took advantage of Sky rookie Maddy Westbeld falling asleep on a pick-and-roll coverage. Sherrod executed a simple pick-and-pop with Burke wide open at the top of the key. Burke caught the ball in rhythm and by the time she took her shot, Westbeld tried to contest, but the rookie’s effort was too little, too late. 

Burke had no idea that she had helped break a league record. 

“I just got the ball and I just shot it because I was wide open,” Burke said postgame about the record-breaking shot. “That’s my role on the team, just to shoot when I’m open and just make big plays, you know.” 

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That’s Burke’s role in a nutshell: to make impactful plays whenever she’s on the floor. Those were similar if not the same expectations that the team had for her last season, but now in 2025 Burke will have much more time on the floor to do so. She played around 12 minutes per game in 2024 and, in the early goings of 2025, it seems reasonable that she could play between 15 and 20 minutes per game this season for the Liberty. 

Her new role comes as a result of the trust she earned amongst the Liberty coaching staff and the 2024 expansion draft that sent former sixth player, fan favorite, hype woman, and close friend of Burke’s, Kayla Thornton, over to the Golden State Valkyries.

While Thornton and Burke’s camaraderie, knack for natural comedy and slight mischief is quite well known, what is less known is how Thornton’s bravery and strong sense of self rubbed off on Burke in a profound way. Thornton’s influence on Burke has set the 27-year-old on a course forward. 

It’s worth imagining the impact of this friendship as similar to what Elphaba and Glinda experience in the famous musical and now movie “Wicked.” While Burke wasn’t familiar with “For Good,” — the emotional duet between the two witches where they express how they both changed each other for the better — she did see the first of the two feature films, which doesn’t include the song. She agreed with the assessment that Thornton had indeed changed her for good. 

“She really has,” she told The Next. “She’s so unapologetically herself. … There are some points in your life where you feel like you’re not really showing yourself, and I feel like [Thornton] has been a big part of … the reason why now I’m able to express my goofy side, my sensitive side, and just being able to be vulnerable in those situations as well.”

When Thornton returns to Barclays Center this coming Tuesday to play her former team and presumably accept her 2024 WNBA championship ring, she’ll reunite with Burke, a player who is now ready to come into her own as one of the WNBA’s most valuable and reliable role players. 

What exactly is Burke’s new role on the Liberty?

Once the WNBA’s free agency period officially began in January of this year, head coach Sandy Brondello knew that she wanted Burke back. With Thornton chosen in the expansion draft, New York needed another swing wing in her place and, once Satou Sabally chose to sign with the Phoenix Mercury, the decision to lure Burke back became even clearer. 

While Burke wasn’t always playing sixth-woman-level minutes in 2024, each time her number was called Brondello liked what she saw and trusted that Burke was going to play with focus, poise and sound decision-making. Those were all the more reasons why the Liberty were so intentional during free agency to make sure Burke would return to New York. 

Multiple teams were interested in Burke, including her former overseas coach Rachid Meziane, who is now head coach of the Connecticut Sun. But what appealed more to Burke was the winning culture the Liberty established, the player amenities and just the potential to contribute more to a contending team with a lot at stake in 2025.  

Another reason why Burke was such an important re-signing for New York was because of the evolved offense the Liberty planned to unveil in 2025. Burke plays like a bigger guard or wing rather than a natural forward. She grew up playing the game as a guard and then over time became a forward because of her over 6′ frame and even longer wingspan. Similar to how the Liberty became comfortable playing Breanna Stewart as a ball handler and facilitator, the Liberty coaching staff saw the same potential for Burke and how it could help the flow of the offense. New York has given Burke the green light to shoot when she’s open, drive when the lane is open and be a playmaker. 

That trust that the coaching staff has in Burke stems from her high level basketball instincts and quick processing of the game in real time. 

“She has an uncanny sense of where she’s supposed to be, where her teammates are, how to make the right play consistently, really high level reads,” her position coach Sonia Raman told The Next. “And she’s very unselfish, so she’s very plug and play. You can kind of put her in with any group. You see in practice, in games, obviously, as well. She fits in a lot of different combos.” 

Defensively, the expectation will be that Burke can guard up and down, defend perimeter players and stronger forwards. Raman believes Burke can be a player who successfully takes on higher level defensive assignments. Imagine how the Liberty developed Thornton from a player most at home guarding power forwards into a player who could also guard wings and guards on the perimeter. A similar pathway is open for Burke. 

This pathway wasn’t as open last season while Burke was adjusting to the Liberty’s style of play prior to 2024’s Olympics. She missed most of training camp last season because of a lingering knee injury that needed to heal following a robust French League season.  

To prevent that from happening this season, Burke was able to come out to New York early since her new overseas team Ormanspor struggled in the Turkish league. She trained a bit at home in California as well before landing in New York for a pre-preseason. Once Burke got to New York, Liberty head athletic trainer Terri Accosta recommended that Burke get a PRP injection to prevent knee inflammation. “I’m not a fan of needles but I’m glad I did it,” Burke said. “Now I feel like I have a brand new knee.”

Burke came into camp healthy, refreshed and comfortable with expectations — aligned with Brondello’s offseason vision for her. 

“And it’s come from all the work that she’s done leading into the training camp and [at] training camp, and her teammates’ trust her,” Brondello said postgame on Thursday night. “So it’s fun because she played an important role for us last year, but I just knew that it was going to be bigger [role] this [season].”

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What also stands out to Raman about Burke is her learning style in addition to her natural intelligence. Since Burke is expected to play both the four and the three this year — rather than mostly the four — it’s an impressive feat that Burke can take “mental reps” and apply them rather than having to physically walk through new sets on both ends of the floor. She often learns one position’s responsibilities by doing, and then the other she picks up visually. 

Burke considers herself primarily a visual learner, or in her words an “observer”.

The Liberty’s new bench leader is Burke

While Burke is always watching and observing during practices and games, what she might not know is she too is being observed and watched especially by some of the newcomers to the Liberty. 

Rebekah Gardner, who Burke played with for Uni Girona back during the 2021-2022 Spanish league season, has leaned on Burke to learn the scheming on both sides of the ball. Since Gardner too plays multiple positions, and some that overlap with Burke, Gardner pays attention to how Burke plays with and responds to the actions of the Liberty’s star players. Gardner noticed that Burke knows exactly what her teammates need from her at any given moment. 

“If Stewie likes this step-up screen in this position, I’m watching exactly what she does because I feel like it will help me also integrate into the system,” Gardner said. “So obviously there’s things she talks to me about, but I especially visually watch. She’s helping me learn without even probably knowing.”

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That’s a prime example of how a player leads by example, which is something that Burke has always prided herself on. Still a work in progress for Burke is leading vocally, something that she’s going to be expected to do more this season as one of the most trusted bench players on the Liberty. Gardner believes that the bench unit is “more stable” when Burke is there and when she does speak her mind and use her voice.

“I said this to her in practice before, she just does all the little [things] — if it’s a cut, if it’s being there to help me defensively, if it’s to talk, if it’s to communicate, if it’s to brighten up the room — every single day when we walk in the locker room, it’s [Burke],” Natasha Cloud said after Burke’s 17-point performance on Thursday night. 

“So I just feel like I know she was here and a part of a championship last year, but I’ve also been excited about this role for her to come into, because she has worked her ass off, not only this year, last year, but every year that she’s been in this league.”